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How long is it between the filing of a divorce petition and receiving the decree absolute?

The normal divorce process for the rest of us is actually quite slow and boring and depending on where you live can take up to 4 months to get a decree nisi and 12 months for the decree absolute.

The average time for a divorce to reach decree absolute in England and Wales was 33 weeks in the first half of 2014 according to the Office for National Statistics.

The main reason for these time scales is because of austerity, the cuts to the court service and the withdrawal of legal aid from 99% of private family law cases.

This has meant that every court is dealing with people attempting to run their own divorce, custody and access proceedings, creating massive delays, which knock on to even the simplest of divorces.

All divorces are now processed at regional divorce centres rather than in your local county court.

Beware of “Quickie Divorce “websites who say they can divorce you in weeks!

To be frank, some highly dubious, so-called “quickie divorce” websites advertise a 12-week divorce if you agree, but this is nearly impossible in 2017 for the reasons we have already given in this blog post.

Telling potential customers that your divorce can be completed in 12 weeks is misleading with a more accurate time for the average divorce is closer to 22-24 weeks.

Of course, they are happy to take your money, because once you have started, you are not going to back out.

A very clever marketing tactic but also highly illegal and misleading. There is no chance whatsoever that they can do a divorce in 12 weeks, even as an average, even if you agree.

Please check before you decide to use one of these websites as to their qualifications, whether they have any trading standards complaints, their reviews etc, by doing some simple Google research.

Advertising as a quickie divorce does not actually mean quick, it is just a name.